Among many different crimes committed against women, one is stalking. Many Indian men cannot accept rejection by a woman. Men follow the woman. If she talks to another man, he feels jealous. Sometime this jealousy manifests itself as anger. In a fit of rage, a man may resort to violent acts.

In Hisar, Haryana, two girls were killed in an university campus within a span of few months. Both girls had rejected friendship / marriage proposals of their suitors. Unable to bear rejection, boys, both students of the same university, had hacked girls to death in full public view.

In another stance, another boy also from Haryana had thrown acid on a girls face. Girl had rejected marriage proposal to pursue her professional career. Boy followed the girl all the way from Delhi to Mumbai. At Bandra station he poured acid on the girl. Girl died a few days later. Court has found the boy guilty of murder. I hope he gets death penalty or locked up for life in jail.

An employee of IT firm Infosys was killed in a railway station in Chennai. Assault was carried out by a friend. Girl had rejected marriage proposal of the boy.

In this context, I would like to talk about a tele serial I watch “Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi”. In the serial a protective mother breaks relation between lead male and female characters. The male lead looks into Facebook page of heroine. Hero waits outside heroines house and watches her talking to her new boy friend. Hero manages to scuttle sanctioned loan of heroines new fiancée. All these keep us glued to the show. Come to think of it, is this not stalking? Actually heroine justifies the act in one episode. “Poor thing does not have any friend. Whatever he is doing, he doing out of love for me” proclaims heroine. We hear horror stories how men kill women for refusing their proposal of friendship and marriage. There are innumerable cases that go unreported of regular harassment that women face in this country. Girls are followed, groped, raped. Lewd comments are no longer made on roadside alone, nowadays obscene comments/photos/videos can be circulated through social media. It can be extremely traumatic to know that someone is being followed in physical and/or in cyber space. TV serials and movies that show stalking, teasing and harassment send a bad signal. Boys get a message that it is alright to stalk and tease. If done for long enough time, girl may actually give in. Signal also goes that girls actually like being stalked, and feel sympathy for the jilted lover. All programs showing stalking must send a clear message that stalking is harassment. Strict punishment must be meted to stalkers. Laws on stalking must be enforced stringently. implementation remains poor. I think message should go that stalking is illegal and strict punishment awaits stalkers.

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Published by Abhijit Ray

I am an amateur blogger. This is a blog about my thoughts about my life and my society. Thoughts that make me happy and thoughts that make me sad and angry. Blogging helps me express my views on events. Read my posts. Share your thoughts.
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